Nanotechnology, A.I., and the Future of Humankind....

[_truth dancer]

I would like to hear opinions on how nanotech will change our species and the world.

I have the sense that in the very near future with the emergence and integration of tech into our bodies and minds, life, for humans will dramatically alter.

Some brilliant thinkers, Ray Kurzweil for one, believes these huge changes will occur in a matter of decades. (the computer being obsolete by 2015), if so, in my opinion, human life will be revolutionized in ways unimagined until recently.

The myths/religions/plans/ideas/and ancient stories will become outdated virtually overnight.

While I think the extraordinary information flowing into our lives is bringing forth a new awareness, I think nanotechnology is going to bring a whole new way of "life" into our world.

Might A.I. replace the human?

What is ahead?

Or will the end of the world happen? ;-)

~dancer~

[_The Nehor]

Why would religion become obsolete because we can build little robots?

[_karl61]

wait until these little robots want thirty wives.

[_Mercury]

Why would religion become obsolete because we can build little robots?

Because death is the "problem" that religion is supposed to solve. If there is no market for righting yourself for the afterlife then ethics will take precedence over the empty promises of religion.

[_asbestosman]

Or will the end of the world happen? ;-)

We will destroy each other one way or another. If not with nukes, then fighting nations will sick plagues of nanobots on each other.

I fail to see how nanobots will make peace in the Middle East, N. Korea, etc.

[_truth dancer]

Just a little quote that may be of interest...

Technological change isn't just happening fast. It's happening at an exponential rate. Contrary to the commonsense, intuitive, linear view, we won't just experience 100 years of progress in the twenty-first century—it will be more like 20,000 years of progress.

The near-future results of exponential technological growth will be staggering: the merging of biological and nonbiological entities in bio­robotics, plants and animals engineered to grow pharmaceutical drugs, software-based "life," smart robots, and atom-sized machines that self-replicate like living matter. Some individuals are even warning that we could lose control of this expanding techno-cornucopia and cause the total extinction of life as we know it. Others are researching how this permanent technological overdrive will affect us. They're trying to understand what this new world of ours will look like and how accelerating technology already impacts us.

A number of scientists believe machine intelligence will surpass human intelligence within a few decades, leading to what's come to be called the Singularity. Author and inventor Ray Kurzweil defines this phenomenon as "technological change so rapid and profound it could create a rupture in the very fabric of human history."

Quote found on this page: http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.ht ... ?m=1%23691

I'm not a scientist of anything but the more I read on this topic, the more I get the sense that very shortly pretty much EVERYTHING is going to change. Another few hundred years and life as we know it will be gone from our planet.

~dancer~

I would kindly ask that this thread stay on topic.... if you do not have something to add, or comments or questions that contribute to the discussion would you mind holding off? Thanks a bunch!

[_truth dancer]

I guess no one saw my little request... so I'll bold and enlarge it, and color it orange:

I would kindly ask that this thread stay on topic.... if you do not have something to add, or comments or questions that contribute to the discussion would you mind holding off? Thanks a bunch!

;-)

[_asbestosman]

Those comments were on topic TD, it's just evidence than human intelligence is already artificial. I think it'll be a sinch for nanobots to outsmart us. Just look at the strange comments we make to each other on this thread.

[_barrelomonkeys]

Those comments were on topic TD, it's just evidence than human intelligence is already artificial. I think it'll be a sinch for nanobots to outsmart us. Just look at the strange comments we make to each other on this thread.

Ah! That was brilliant. Sometimes I think of you, asbestosman, as being the one intelligent being on this site. :)

Okay -- on topic: The acceleration of technology is something that is very interesting to me. I wish I was as excited about this as you are TD. Seems to me that with any advance there is always the potential for it to be used to harm humanity. Thanks for posting the article, very interesting.

May go move in with my Amish neighbors soon. ;)

[_Mercury]

The Singularity is both a reality and a pipe dream.

Get it? Hehe